In
1862, Congress passed the Morrill Land Grant Act providing
grants of federal land to each state to establish a college
teaching agriculture, mechanical arts, and related subjects.
Subsequent federal acts enlarged the responsibilities of these
colleges. The University of Connecticut is the land-grant university
in Connecticut. The College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
serves Connecticut through a wide variety of research, outreach
education, and undergraduate and graduate degree programs.
Research is administered through the Storrs Agricultural Experiment
Station. Cooperative Extension faculty and staff, working with
a network of over 40,000 trained volunteers and eight extension
councils, conduct outreach education and service programs throughout
the state.

A key component of extension programs is training volunteers who become trainers
themselves, leveraging the financial investment in the Cooperative Extension
System.

The College maintains livestock, greenhouses, forested lands, gardens, and other
operations for teaching, research, outreach education, and service programs.

The College is supported by federal and state appropriations, extramural and
intramural grants and contracts, and contributions from the private sector.

As the original component of Connecticut’s land-grant university, the College
of Agriculture and Natural Resources has as its primary mission education based
on research, conducted in laboratories and in the field, that focuses on agriculture,
the environment, food, families, and quality of life. The College provides high-quality,
broad-based, relevant educational opportunities that prepare graduates to address
the challenges of life today; it expands the frontiers of knowledge through research;
and it enhances economic opportunities and quality of life for people of Connecticut
and beyond.